Pseudalsophis

Pseudalsophis is a genus of snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus is endemic to South America. Out of the ten species, nine are endemic to the Galapagos Islands.

Pseudalsophis
Pseudalsophis dorsalis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Dipsadinae
Genus:	Pseudalsophis Hussam Zaher et al., 2009
Species
Ten
Synonyms
Alsophis, Antillophis

Geographic range

Species in the genus Pseudalsophis are found in Ecuador (particularly the Galápagos), Chile and Peru.

Species

Ten species are recognized as being valid.^[1]

• Pseudalsophis biserialis (Günther, 1860) – Galápagos racer
• Pseudalsophis darwini (Zaher, Yánez-Muñoz, Rodrigues, Graboski, Machado, Altamirano-Benavides, Bonatto, & Grazziotin, 2018) – Darwin's racer^[2]
• Pseudalsophis dorsalis (Steindachner, 1876) – Central Galapagos racer
• Pseudalsophis elegans (Tschudi, 1845)
• Pseudalsophis hephaestus (Zaher et al, Yánez-Muñoz, Rodrigues, Graboski, Machado, Altamirano-Benavides, Bonatto, & Grazziotin, 2018) – Santiago racer^[2]
• Pseudalsophis hoodensis (Van Denburgh, 1912) – Espanola racer
• Pseudalsophis occidentalis (Van Denburgh, 1912) – Western Galapagos racer
• Pseudalsophis slevini (Van Denburgh, 1912) – Banded Galápagos snake
• Pseudalsophis steindachneri (Van Denburgh, 1912) – Striped Galápagos snake
• Pseudalsophis thomasi (Zaher et al., 2018)^[2] – Thomas's racer

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Pseudalsophis.

Etymology

The specific names, slevini and steidachneri, are in honor of American herpetologist Joseph Richard Slevin and Austrian herpetologist Franz Steindachner, respectively.^[3]

References

1. "Search results | The Reptile Database". reptile-database.reptarium.cz. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
2. Zaher, Hassam; Yánez-Muños, Mario H.; Rodrigues, Miguel T.; Graboski, Roberta; Machado, Fabio A., Bonatto, Sandro L.; Grazziotin, Felipe G. (2018) – Darwin's racer "Origin and hidden diversity within the poorly known Galápagos radiation (Serpentes: Dipsadidae)". Systematics and Biodiversity. Published online. (Pseudalsophis darwini, new species; P. hephaestus, n. sp.; P. thomasi, n. sp.).
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Antillophis slevini, p. 245; Antillophis steindachneri, p. 252).

Further reading

• Zaher, Hussam; Grazziotin, Felipe Gobbi; Cadle, John E.; Murphy, Robert W.; de Moura-Leite, Julio Cesar; Bonatto, Sandro (2009). "Molecular phylogeny of advanced snakes (Serpentes, Caenophidia) with an emphasis on South American Xenodontines: a revised classification and descriptions of new taxa". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 49 (11): 115–153. (Pseudalsophis, new genus). (in English, with abstracts in English and Portuguese).